Robert Menendez donor courted President Obama, Harry Reid

He posed for pictures with President Barack Obama, flew Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid on his private jet and sought advice on a port security deal from an ex-CIA agent who helped lead the hunt for Osama bin Laden, POLITICO has learned.

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Salomon Melgen: POLITICO reports on donor’s reach

Menendez: Highlights of a scandal

Melgen, a wealthy South Florida eye doctor and investor, has seen his flashy forays onto the political stage backfire in spectacular fashion in the past few months. Federal investigators are probing his business dealings. He’s at the center of the controversy over Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) and prostitutes in the Dominican Republic.

And now, new details show that Melgen also courted other leading politicians, including two of the top Democrats in Washington.

There is no evidence that either Obama or Reid inappropriately sought to aid Melgen.

Melgen briefly schmoozed Obama at a 2010 fundraiser Melgen co-hosted benefiting the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, which Menendez chaired at the time. The president posed with his arm around Melgen in a photo obtained exclusively by POLITICO.

“Everybody gets a photo-op, but the host committee just gets a few extra minutes to meet with the president,” said Seema Sharma, who hosted the fundraiser at her family home in the Washington suburbs.

Melgen “shook hands with [Obama] and told him he was from Florida,” Sharma said. It was “just small talk, chitchat. There’s just not enough time to have a detailed discussion or any lengthy conversation.”

But Melgen wasn’t happy with the return on his investment — co-hosting required the maximum $30,400 donation to the DSCC — according to a source who travels in the same Miami political circles.

“He had mentioned to me once that he had given all this money to go to an Obama fundraiser, and Obama didn’t even give him the time of day,” said the source, who didn’t want to be identified revealing the contents of private conversations. “He went up to talk to him, and he felt very slighted by the president. He was pretty angry.”

The White House declined to comment for this report.

Melgen also tried courting the top Senate Democrat: Harry Reid of Nevada.

Melgen flew Reid on his company’s private plane last summer to Boston and back for a Majority PAC event, Reid’s office confirmed to POLITICO.

Majority PAC, a super PAC closely linked to Reid that benefits Senate Democratic candidates, reported reimbursing Melgen’s ophthalmology company $4,160 for “travel” last summer. That filing does not specify who did the traveling, when it occurred or the destination, but Reid’s office said that payment was for Reid’s trip to Boston.

“Sen. Reid took a flight that was in full compliance with FEC rules and fully paid for,” said his spokesman Adam Jentleson.

Flight records show that Melgen’s plane flew from his home airport in West Palm Beach, Fla., to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport on Sunday afternoon, June 17, then took off at 7:15 the next morning, June 18, en route to Boston. It stayed on the ground less than three hours, before lifting off to return to Reagan, which requires special security clearance for private planes.

Melgen also donated $700,000 last year to Majority PAC, which spent $582,500 supporting Menendez’s 2012 reelection campaign — which Menendez won by 18 percentage points.

Some rich folks looking for special treatment would work through a lobbyist with experience navigating government bureaucracy.